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Building a Transformational Movement
By Kerri Lobel
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Boston
April 5, 1998
Twenty-five years after my coming out, and in NGLTF's twenty-fifth
year, I find myself at the helm of the oldest national gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender civil rights organization. I'd like to tell
you about my vision for NGLTF and the principles I hold dear as we
work for social justice.
We must be a transformational movement - one that brings all people
forward together and that fundamentally challenges and transforms our
society. At our core, we must recognize that we too have bought into
the myths about how we are culturally represented. How many of our
organizations are led by people of color, by bisexual or transgendered
people? How many of our organizations work on issues like affirmative
action, welfare, immigration, and childcare.
We act as if we believe the myth of gay whiteness, of gay wealth and
all too many of us are content to be just like everyone else. Here's
the reality. Not all of us want to be like everyone else. We make a
serious mistake when we create a dress code for civil rights.
As a young woman, I was taught that bisexuals were fence sitters,
unwilling or unable to choose a sexual orientation, unwilling to face
the stigma of being gay or lesbian, seeking comfort in heterosexual
privilege. What harm was done to me and others with these very notions
cannot be calculated, but the harm to our movement has been enormous.
I believe that our process as a community must reflect the world that we
want to build. If we want to be like everyone else, we will act like
everyone else. We will be greedy, we will value style over substance, and
we will cast out those that challenge us and our comfortable assumptions.
If we want to build a movement that is transformational, we will model
honesty, we will model openness and we will take the risks that challenge
conventional thinking. We will act with integrity in our personal
relationships and in our relationships with our colleagues. We will seek
out and lift up every voice, challenged by what we hear but not afraid.
We will listen to every voice.
The true test of democracy is how it embraces those who look, act, and
think differently, not just those who are the same. This is the world we
dream of - a more compassionate society. One that values the worth and
dignity of all people.
We can't subscribe to the "I'll get mine now and we'll add you later" mode
of politics. As a woman, as a lesbian, as a Jew, I can't be a woman on
Thursday, a lesbian on Friday, and a Jew on Saturday. And I challenge any
organization that requires that I make that choice. Perhaps it is an old
fashioned notion, but I believe that to move forward, each of us must move
forward together.
Bisexual and transgender activists are forever transforming our
understanding of sexual expression and gender identity. You have made great
progress. For the first time, bisexual and transgender leaders are part of
a roundtable, convened by NGLTF, of executive directors and chairs of
national GLBT political organizations.
Together, you're challenging the increased reliance on gene-based theories
of sexual orientation and paving the way for each of us to accept the
fluidity that for many of us is our sexual expression. And perhaps you
are leading us to the day where there will be less need and desire to
categorize ourselves by sexual labels.
But I challenge you to go further. I challenge each of you to break through
your world to new place, to challenge your assumptions, to develop new
relationships, to act as though the world that you create for yourself and
your community is the model that each of us should live by. I challenge to
tear down your walls, to tear down your stereotypes, and to lead.
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